WILKINS TELLS MALONE `HOW IT IS'

Malone maligned: And Atlanta's gentlemanly Dominique Wilkins was charged up after a confrontation with Utah's Karl Malone last week.

"I told Karl, `You're a cheap-shot artist, you're not a man, not a true power forward'," said Wilkins. "I told him you always go out there to hurt someone smaller than you, that's your game. He got mad and said things to me. I'm not afraid of him. I told him, `Buck Williams is a man, a real power forward. He's strong, he plays the game.' I told him `You're a cheap-shot guy, no two ways about it.' I've got no respect for him."